An adequate diet, as well as having healthy lifestyle habits, can contribute decisively to maintaining blood pressure within safe levels. “In terms of blood pressure, we talk about safe thresholds when the maximum is within a range that ranges between 95/100-130/135 and the minimum between 65/70-85/90,” explains Ignacio Ferreira, head of the Service. of Cardiology at the Vall d'Hebron Hospital, in Barcelona. The doctor recalls that blood pressure is used “to measure the strength of blood flow or, in other words, the speed of blood within the arteries, which is regulated thanks to the capacity for vasodilation.”
There are people, however, who have this regulatory capacity altered, which gives rise to hypertension (in the case of high blood pressure) and hypotension (when the pressure is low). “The blood vessels increase or decrease their caliber depending on the speed and amount of blood: when necessary the arteries dilate so that the increase in flow does not lead to an increase in pressure and in relaxing situations the arteries contract a little to maintain blood pressure within the recommended thresholds,” continues Ferreira.
There are genetic and environmental factors that can influence blood pressure. “Low blood pressure symptoms are common in young, healthy women, who may even suffer from dizziness, fainting or syncope. This is because its regulatory mechanism is not yet mature,” explains Ferreira, who points out that with age, blood pressure usually increases. "It is probably due to environmental and dietary factors, since with age, cholesterol plaques accumulate in the arteries, which causes the walls to become harder and the regulation mechanism to maintain blood pressure is lost. correct.”
In addition to drinking plenty of fluids, which helps improve the ability of the arteries to adapt, Ferreira recommends that hypotensive people maintain a series of hygienic-dietary measures. "Getting up little by little, without making sudden changes when we get up from the bed or chair, can help us avoid dizziness, as well as performing the so-called counterposition maneuver: crossing our hands against each other with great force, since this gesture it increases the pressure and aborts the lowering mechanisms,” explains the doctor. If, in addition to all this, we incorporate a series of foods into our diet, we can increase blood pressure practically immediately.
